Child's Play
by LaCelia
Summary: Yuuri knew that today wasn’t going to be his day the moment he woke up and saw that it was raining. Blood Pledge Castle is baffled and Conrad is placed in an unusual position and Yuuri is even more oblivious than usual. ConYuu.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: First off, I'd like to thank everyone for reviewing my last story, "Dreamscape". I appreciate you taking the time to let me know what you thought of my first Conyuu story. This story is going to be a longer, chapter fic. It's another Conyuu story, but it takes a little while. I hope you enjoy it as much I enjoyed coming up with it. Please let me know what you think!

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Child's Play

Chapter One

Yuuri knew that today wasn't going to be his day the moment he woke up and saw that it was raining. _No baseball today…_ he sighed, feeling just as gloomy as the clouds that cried outside his window. It proceeded to worsen when that also meant he couldn't take part in his morning run with Conrad and felt drowsy as a result. At breakfast he accidentally spilled his juice over his plate and Wolfram made it worse by accusing him of cheating when he apologized to Doria and asked for another plate, then after they bickered for a while the blonde demon stood up in a rage and unknowingly startled Doria who just reentered the room causing Yuuri's second plate of food to go flying in the air and crash to the floor. He just decided to skip breakfast.

After that fiasco, Gunter practically dragged him to his study and began an extremely drawn out, theatrical lecture on the ninety-seven tax decrees the fifteenth maou made and his reasons for each one and even went into detail on what that particular maou happened to be wearing on each day he presented a new tax. Yuuri didn't want to know how Gunter received this information. Luckily, Conrad stopped by with a tray of snacks he managed to sneak away from the kitchen since Yuuri missed out on breakfast. However, the brown haired soldier had addressed him as "Your Majesty" which brought Yuuri's mood back down again. Lunch would've been fine if Gunter had allowed him to go; the man was so engaged in his lesson that he forgot the time and didn't let Yuuri leave until well after three o'clock. With a pounding head and a less-than-pleasant attitude, Yuuri was instructed to go see Gwendel and get started on his paperwork for the day. And it was still raining.

"Today just isn't my day." Yuuri sighed, stretching his arms over his head. "I just want to go to sleep."

"Stop whining like a wimp." Wolfram snorted, taking it upon himself to escort his fiancée to Gwendel's study. "You're the king, you have responsibilities. Whether you feel like doing them or not shouldn't be an issue."

Yuuri rolled his eyes and thought it wise not to answer the fire demon with some sarcastic remark that would only anger him and cause unnecessary damage to his hearing. However, this ended up being the wrong choice because Wolfram decided to just continue berating Yuuri for being such a lazy maou. _Why couldn't it have been Conrad walking me?_ He asked inwardly, well-aware that no one would offer him an answer. The only reason Wolfram was accompanying him was because he happened to be walking by when Gunter excused him. Conrad was probably off taking care of some important soldier business anyway.

Another sigh escaped him and Wolfram growled, "Stop doing that! It's getting on my nerves!"

Yuuri frowned, "Sorry, but I can't help it. This weather is just so…" he paused, struggling to find the right word to describe the rain. "Exhausting, I guess."

Wolfram scoffed at his answer, "How can rain make someone tired? You're just- HEY!!" A strange looking, circular object flew across the hall and barely missed striking Wolfram in the head, "What's going on?!"

"Oh! My apologies, Lord von Bielefeld! I didn't see you there!" the maid Lasagna appeared from a room off to the side, clasping her hands in front of her apologetically.

"Why are you throwing things?" he asked roughly, hands placed on his hips, while Yuuri inspected the object that nearly attacked Wolfram.

Sangria poked her head out from behind Lasagna, "Oh, well, we're actually cleaning out the treasury under Lord von Voltaire's orders. It's so dusty and cluttered, you see, so we were trying to sort things and that just happened to fly out of a pile of stuff we were going through as you walked by."

Wolfram just grumbled as Yuuri walked over with the strange, circular object in hand and delivered it to Lasagna, "What is this thing?"

"Well, we think it might be a heat detector… but we're not sure." Sangria answered hesitantly as Lasagna disappeared back into the treasury.

"That would explain why it attacked Wolfram." Yuuri mused allowed, catching his fiancée's attention.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" he demanded, grabbing Yuuri by the shoulder.

The double black just forced a small laugh and rubbed the back of his head, "Nothing. Just, you're a fire element, so it makes sense." Wolfram calmed down and released him at that, allowing Yuuri to face Sangria again, "Do you think I could help?"

Both maids gasped, Sangria flushed at such an offer and Wolfram immediately raised an eyebrow, "Yuuri, don't bother yourself with maids' work. You have more important things to do."

Yuuri frowned and opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Lasagna who rushed back over at the request, "I-it's alright, Your Majesty, we can manage."

"But I want to help. It's an awful lot of work for just you two, and besides," he directed this at Wolfram, "I could learn about the history behind some of these things and shouldn't a good maou know what's in his treasury?"

Wolfram huffed, "You're just trying to get out of doing your paperwork."

Yuuri grinned sheepishly, "Heh… well, I don't know about that." Wolfram grunted, not believing him, and Yuuri looked to the maids again, "Please, can I help?"

Sangria and Lasagna exchanged a look before the red-head spoke up, "If you really want to, Your Majesty, we'd be honored to have your assistance."

"Great!" Yuuri beamed and hurried into the treasury, "Where should I start?"

"Anywhere is fine, Your Majesty. We're just playing it by ear." Sangria smiled; enticed by his enthusiasm.

The young king nodded, "Alright. Hmm…" He started over to a shelf that housed clumps of knick-knacks that didn't seem to have any particular value. "What're these things?"

"Gifts." Wolfram piped up from behind him, "They don't do much; I think they might be for entertainment."

Yuuri picked up a multi-colored, cone shaped item and turned it around in his hand, "How does it work?"

"Most of the treasures are powered by maryoku. Try focusing your energy onto it." Sangria suggested as she sorted objects by shape.

With the cone in hand, Yuuri closed his eyes and concentrated on his maryoku. It was difficult for him to get a good grasp on it; when he went into Maou-mode it was a lot easier to expel. His hand clenched around the object and Wolfram watched, waiting for something to happen. Suddenly the colors started whirling together and it lit up. Startled, Yuuri opened his hand and let the object sit in his palm. It started to spin really fast, like a top in overdrive. A huge grin broke out on the young king's face.

"Wow! It's a Super-Top! Look Wolfram!" he held it out to the other boy as it continued to spin and flash.

He rolled his eyes and pushed Yuuri's hand away, "Stop acting like a child. It's not that exciting."

Yuuri pouted, "You don't have to be such a buzz-kill, you know." The top stopped spinning and he held it out to the maids, "Where should I put this?"

"I'll take it, Your Majesty. Thank you." Lasagna smiled, finding his interest in the treasures amusing.

"No problem, I'm glad I can help." He started to look about him again; he'd been down here several times before, but never to just inspect the interesting things that didn't have much prestige to it… like that Super-Top.

After he helped sort through the random, maryoku powered items—that amused him to no end, much to the irritation of Wolfram—he wandered over to a shelf that contained several mirrors not unlike the one that could transport any willing spirit to the past or future. Yuuri eyed them warily, recalling the trip he made to the past some time ago where he met Suzanna Julia and witnessed Conrad going off to war. He shuddered at the memory; more than happy to avoid seeing something like that again.

"These mirrors… do they do anything, you know…" he trailed off, pointing to the shelf.

Wolfram looked over; arms still folded across his chest, and shrugged, "They should be normal mirrors. Some might do something, but none of them are like the Demon Mirror. At least, they shouldn't be."

Yuuri breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, good." He immediately picked one up and looked into it. "WOAH!!" he dropped it and leapt back; luckily Wolfram caught it before it could shatter on the ground. "W-w-wha-?"

"Wimp! What did you do that for?" Wolfram growled, setting the mirror back where it belonged.

Yuuri felt a chill run up and down his spine, "I-in the mirror! My face! It… it!" Wolfram just stared at him, awaiting an explanation, "It was a skeleton!!"

Wolfram heaved a large sigh, "Wimp. That's used for medical reasons. It shows if you have any broken bones or strange injuries."

"Well I didn't know that!" Yuuri sputtered indignantly, "You could've told me it was like an X-Ray!"

"What're you going on about? What's an Ex-Ray?" Wolfram demanded, watching as Yuuri picked up a different, dust-covered mirror. "You don't learn, do you?"

"I'll just be more careful with it." Yuuri replied; a bit insulted that Wolfram thought he'd make the same blunder twice. "And X-Rays are from my world and do what that mirror does. Shows you your bones and such."

While Wolfram mulled this over, Yuuri glanced into this next mirror. It simply showed his normal though dusty reflection, much to his relief, but had a very ornate design. It was an oval-shape with swirls decorating the edges. He felt drawn to it; it appeared too beautiful to be in this place coated in several layers of dust that hid its true beauty. He blew on it to get rid of the dust and the coughing fit that he endured afterwards reminded him not to do that again. Instead he rubbed at it with his sleeve until he could clearly see his reflection and the golden design that shone on the mirror. He smiled and his reflection smiled back. _"Stop acting like a child. It's not that exciting."_ His reflection frowned with him as Wolfram's earlier words played back in his head. He shook them away and focused on the mirror again. _I wonder if maryoku works with this one?_ He mused to himself and tried to focus on his energy again; forgetting the popular saying 'curiosity killed the cat'.

The maids and Wolfram failed to notice his attempt; they didn't even know what mirror he'd been looking at. The flash of light and crash alerted them to the fallen maou who'd been buried beneath piles of assorted treasures.

"Your Majesty!" Sangria gasped as Wolfram rushed over shouting his fiancée's name.

"I'll go get help!" Lasagna rushed off when they received no reply from the young king.

"Yuuri!" Wolfram started digging through the pile with Sangria's assistance, trying to find any part of Yuuri so they could pull him out. But an entire shelf had toppled onto him when he was flung backwards; they could be searching for a while. "Yuuri! Answer me you wimp! Yuuri!"



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"YOUR MAJESTY!!" Conrad winced as Gunter wailed for the thousandth time since Gwendel, who appeared extremely irritated, told them that the maou had yet to show up to complete his paperwork. "YOUR MAAAAAJESTYYY!!"

"Gunter, I don't think that's going to help us find him." Conrad finally voiced his opinion; certain that if Yuuri heard Gunter's cries he'd run in the opposite direction.

Gunter sobbed, "Why does His Majesty shirk his duties? Why does he hide from me?! Your Majestyyy!!"

Conrad offered a smile, "Well… perhaps he just got distracted."

Gunter sniffled, on his way to calming down as the pair continued to search for their king. At the same time, a distressed Lasagna dashed through the hallway, rounding the corner and crashing straight into an equally distressed Gunter and a puzzled Conrad. "Oh! I'm so sorry! Lord von Christ! Sir Weller! Wait! Oh thank goodness I've found you! There's an emergency!"

"Calm down, what seems to be the problem?" Conrad asked soothingly, trying to placate the red-headed maid.

"It's His Majesty! He's been buried alive!" Conrad's calm exterior faltered and he broke into a sprint as Gunter began his wailing anew, "He's in the treasury! He fell into something and he won't answer us!"

Her cries faded as Conrad outran both her and Gunter. If Yuuri had fallen into something… he could have severe head trauma or perhaps broken something. The brown-haired soldier burst into the room and quickly descended the flight of stairs. His gaze immediately fell on Wolfram and Sangria still trying to locate Yuuri beneath the pile of junk.

"Yuuri!" he knelt down next to his brother and started to fish through the objects as well.

"What happened in here?" Gunter sounded horrified he and Lasagna entered.

"His Majesty wanted to help us clean out the treasury… he really wanted to and we couldn't say no to him. He seemed to be doing fine until…" Lasagna's voice trembled as she spoke.

Conrad reached down and his fingers brushed against something soft and warm. Skin. "Yuuri!" He focused solely on that particular spot and Wolfram caught on quickly, assisting him with uncovering the double black. The dark fabric of Yuuri's sleeve became visible and the soldier pulled on it. The person they uncovered wasn't exactly Yuuri though. Conrad gasped as he found himself staring into the face of a small unconscious child with black hair and swimming in Yuuri's clothes.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you for the kind reviews for last chapter! In case any of you are wondering, Little Yuuri looks like he does in the flashbacks of episode 92. I'm guessing he's about five or so in the moon scene, so that's what I'm going with. Plus his voice is so adorable then! Well, I hope you enjoy chapter two!

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Chapter Two

_"Your Majesty? What're you doing in here?"_

_The black-haired Maou groaned; so his hiding place hadn't worked out. And he thought that no one would look for him in Ao's stable. Well, at least it was Conrad. He should've known that Conrad would always be able to find him._

_"It's Yuuri, Man-Who-Named-Me! Jeez, how many times do I have to tell you? It's not that hard of a name." He popped up from the hay he'd been hiding in and was instantly greeted with a bright smile._

_"My apologies, _Yuuri_." He held out a hand to help his liege off the floor of the stable, "But really what are you doing in here?"_

_"Isn't it obvious? Hiding from Gunter! I tell you, if I have to learn one more name of the eighth maou's thirty-seven grandchildren I think my brain will explode." He complained, brushing the hay off of his pants._

_Conrad took over the task of removing the hay from his clothes and Yuuri fought back a blush at the contact, "Well, we certainly wouldn't want that, Your Majest… I mean, Yuuri." He could tell that his death glare was ineffective given that Conrad had to look away and bring a hand to his mouth._

_"You're laughing at me!" Yuuri accused, pointing his finger at Conrad's chest. The older man just shook his head, keeping his hand over his mouth and refusing to look at Yuuri. "Yes you are! Admit it! Look at me!" Conrad finally spared a glance for his king; the boy was pouting now and his black hair was practically blonde given the amount of hay that sat upon his head. "Conrad!"_

_"I'm sorry, Your Majesty." Conrad murmured behind his hand as his shoulders trembled from suppressing his laughter and his brown eyes sparkled. Yuuri's expression softened and his cheeks warmed a bit at the sight of the normally composed Conrad trying to keep from laughing._

_Even if it was at his expense, Yuuri found that liked seeing Conrad like this. "Yuuri, Conrad." He told him fondly, before shaking away the tender feelings and exchanged them for a grin, "Do you want to play catch?"_

_"It would be my honor, Yuuri." Conrad smiled back once he pulled himself together again and finished brushing the hay off of his head for him._

* * *

Conrad gazed helplessly from the sidelines as the giant bed seemed to be devouring the tiny child that was smothered with blankets_._ He could hardly detect the rise and fall of his chest because of all the layers and that had him uneasy. Would they be able to tell if he stopped breathing? Gisela hovered over him, occasionally pushing back her father whenever he wandered too close to the boy, and examined him carefully. Everyone had gathered in the maou's bedroom, even little Greta who looked on with astonishment at seeing her father so small. Wolfram sat on Yuuri's bed, holding Greta's hand in his as he just stared at the figure cocooned in the sheets. Conrad couldn't help but wonder if the child's cheeks were too pale or too flushed and watched Gisela continue her check-up.

Finally she straightened and looked all around the room, "It seems that this is indeed His Majesty." Gunter wailed in the background, "But I can assure you all that there doesn't seem to be any physical damage other than that he is a lot younger than we're used to… but he isn't injured, save for a couple of bruises which is surprising considering the circumstances."

"So… he'll be okay?" Wolfram ventured cautiously.

Gisela faltered for a moment and looked away, "Physically, yes… mentally… I can't be sure until he wakes up."

Conrad swallowed thickly, a lump already formed in his throat, "How old is he, Gisela?"

"About five… maybe six years old." She looked hesitant, "I can't be sure, but given that he's been aging like a human for the majority of his life I'm guessing that he's around that age."

Conrad clenched his fist and turned his gaze back to the unconscious child. If one didn't know better, Yuuri would appear to be sleeping peacefully. Angelically, almost. Everyone fell silent for a few minutes; the only sound that penetrated it was the tinkling of rain outside and Yuuri's soft breaths. Finally, Wolfram stood up quickly and glared at Gisela.

"What am I supposed to do with a five year old fiancée?!" he demanded, his cheeks aflame and Greta held onto his hand tightly.

"Wolfram, calm yourself." Gwendel grunted, his ever-present frown directed at his youngest brother, "You'll disturb him."

Gisela sighed tiredly, "Lord Wolfram, I'm sorry, but perhaps his mind has been salvaged."

"What do you mean?" Both Wolfram and Gunter asked this in unison; one voice bitter and the other desperate.

"As I said before, I can't tell what His Majesty's mental state is yet. Maybe he'll recall everything and will be exactly as he was before this incident. He'd be sixteen years old in a child's body." She explained carefully, "In another case, his mind may have also regressed to that of a child… the worst case scenario…" she hesitated for a moment, "His mind may not be able to withstand the drastic change… and be damaged irreparably."

Silence kept the group company yet again. Gwendel had Greta taken away by Anissina; the young girl growing more distraught as time passed. Wolfram paced the room in frustration which in turn caused four more wrinkles to appear on Gwendel's brow. Gunter alternated between hovering over Gisela, lamenting by the window, and standing beside Gwendel. Gisela monitored Yuuri periodically to check his vitals and to make sure he didn't go into shock. Conrad just leaned against the wall next to Yuuri's bed and watched over him; worry and guilt settled in his eyes.

After what seemed like hours, but could've been minutes, the child stirred and brought everyone to attention. Gisela held up a hand to prevent them from crowding and bent over the side of the bed. Tiny eyelids fluttered gently and his small mouth parted as he squeaked out a yawn. He blinked several times, having difficulty adjusting to the light. Finally he started to take in his surroundings and his black eyes grew wide. He stopped all movement and his breathing picked up speed.

"Your Majesty?" Gisela asked softly, but the boy wouldn't look at her. "Your Majesty?"

He clamped his eyes shut and continued to breathe rapidly. Conrad's hand twitched; the urge to go to the boy overwhelmed him. Nobody moved for a second; Gisela's face reflected extreme concern. She tried to get his attention, but the child refused to look at her or even acknowledge her.

"Yuuri." Wolfram finally murmured and the boy's eyes snapped open.

His eyes were as large and round as saucers; the contrast made his pale skin appear ghostly white. His gaze darted from face to face, obviously searching for familiarity. Tears welled up in his eyes upon finding none. His tiny fists clenched around the blankets and he drew them up around him. Gunter attempted to approach, but Yuuri whimpered as soon as the man took a step. The poor thing resembled a rabbit surrounded by a pack of wolves; trembling uncontrollably and wanting to bolt immediately.

"Yuuri," Gisela tried; the name sounding awkward on her lips but he responded to it, "It's alright, little one. Can you remember anything?"

He glanced over at Gisela and shook his head rapidly, still watching the others from the corners of his eyes. When Gwendel's frown increased, so did the fear on Yuuri's face. Gisela tried to hush him, but the boy was already screaming and trying to hide in the covers. Conrad felt his heart break at the sound of the pitiful cries; he could faintly hear the word 'mama' coming from the pillow Yuuri chose to bury his face into. Wolfram and Gunter tried to approach him, but Yuuri just flailed about wildly to keep them away. Everyone took a step back; this outburst clearly startled everyone and upset them a great deal. No one liked to hear Yuuri cry, so witnessing the child-Yuuri bawl into his pillow was heart wrenching.

The green haired nurse tried to soothe him, but he wouldn't let her touch him and just batted her away and cowered. Gisela shook her head wearily, then proceeded to usher everyone out—mainly Gunter because his cries were only distressing Yuuri more—but Conrad lingered a bit. It seemed that the child registered everyone was leaving so he slowly looked up from his tear-soaked pillow, still sobbing loudly. The glassy black eyes met Conrad's brown and the sobs stopped for a second. Conrad's eyes widened and Yuuri hiccupped. Gisela turned around slowly, astonished at how quickly Yuuri's cries ceased. Wolfram peered around her, as did Gwendel and Gunter, and all of them gaped at Conrad. Conrad would've gaped at himself as well, for he had no idea what he had done to suddenly quiet Yuuri. He'd just stood there.

Tears still poured down Yuuri's cheeks and he still hiccupped, but at least he wasn't flat out screaming like before. His hand unclenched from around the sheets and he tentatively reached out for Conrad. The soldier looked to Gisela; awaiting confirmation that it was safe for him to go near Yuuri. The boy started to whine so Gisela nodded hurriedly and Conrad was at Yuuri's side in a heartbeat. He sat down on the edge of the bed as Wolfram had done before and took the small hand that reached for him. With his free hand, Yuuri took hold of Conrad's hair and stared at him for some time before sniffling and crawling into his lap and opening his mouth. Conrad didn't breathe for a moment, bracing himself for another outburst. But it didn't come. Yuuri just yawned and pressed his cheek against Conrad's thigh. He fell asleep within seconds.

Everyone counted to ten before Wolfram hissed quietly, "What was that?!"

"Shh!" even Gwendel silenced Wolfram's inquiry.

"I have no idea, but that was amazing, Sir Weller!" Gisela praised in a whisper. "I knew you were good with children, but this is just incredible!"

Conrad just stared in awe at the sleeping child, "I… I really don't know what happened. He just looked at me…"

"I think I know what it is."

All eyes turned to Gwendel. The earth-user watched Yuuri sleep for a moment before sighing. "Small children search for familiarity when faced with unusual circumstances, right?" They nodded, "Well, what's more familiar to a child than their mother?"

Wolfram pursed his lips and looked from Gwendel to Conrad and back to Gwendel, "How is Weller being compared to Yuuri's mother?"

Gwendel sighed and rubbed his temple, "His Majesty's mother has brown hair and brown eyes, yes?" Wolfram nodded slowly, "As does Conrad."

"I see." Gunter nodded in understanding, "His Majesty equates brown hair and eyes with security because of his mother, and thus equates Conrad with security because of the similarities in color. That is truly fascinating. But why couldn't she have had hair like mine?"

Conrad, although not particularly interested in being compared to a mother, felt touched that even as a child with no knowledge of who he was… Yuuri still trusted him. He felt a twinge of guilt as he watched the boy in his arms; wishing that he were the age he was supposed to be rather than a decade younger. However, an older Yuuri wouldn't have reached out like that without getting flustered.

"We must immediately address this matter and what it means for Shin Makoku." Gwendel kept his voice low, still eyeing the sleeping Yuuri. "Wolfram, Gunter, Conrad… come with me."

"Ah…" Conrad glanced at his brother and then back at Yuuri, "What about…?"

"He's sleeping now. Gisela will stay with him and guards are posted outside. He'll be fine as long as he sleeps through the night." Gwendel informed him; well-aware of children's sleeping habits after putting up with his two younger brothers and Greta. "He won't wake up if you move him carefully."

Conrad appeared hesitant at first before steadying himself. With Gisela's help, he gently removed the child from his lap and stood from the bed. A patch of drool stained his pant leg, but he paid no mind to it. The four retainers exited Yuuri's bedroom and journeyed to Gwendel's study. Gwendel took his usual seat behind his desk while the others stood around him.

"I imagine that you can all guess why this matter of the maou being… a child would concern me." He started, folding his hands on his desk. Everyone in the room nodded solemnly and he continued, "His Majesty cannot handle the task of signing documents in this condition so I will maintain that responsibility." _As if I don't already…_ "But other than that, there are bigger issues at hand."

"Dai Shimaron." Conrad tensed at the idea of their enemies discovering that Yuuri had reverted to a child.

Gwendel nodded, "They will not hesitate to attack in his current condition. Also, our allies and our own country would be alarmed at this turn of events. I think that it's best if the entire castle maintains the impression that His Majesty has returned to earth for the time being. It's not unusual and that way we can have a couple of weeks to figure out how to reverse this."

"I will personally study each and every item in the treasury until I uncover the one that damaged His Majesty in such a way." Gunter declared.

Conrad shook his head, "I think it's best that we leave that duty to the maids; they were with His Majesty when he passed out so they should have a better idea of where to look and what to look for."

"I was with him too." Wolfram added, "If I find anything unusual, I'll take it to you for examination, Gunter."

"And it'd be good for you to be available if His Majesty has any questions about our culture." Conrad suggested, brightening Gunter's mood, "You can still continue your lessons, just on a more basic level."

Gwendel turned his attention to his youngest brother, "Wolfram, given the circumstances and that His Majesty is clearly too young, I ask that you suspend your engagement for the time being."

Wolfram appeared torn for a moment, but then nodded firmly, "I understand. I can't imagine trying to pursue a serious relationship with a five year old."

"Alright then. So we will have the maids begin searching for the item starting tomorrow and I'll have Yozak see if anything like this has happened before. We should inform His Holiness, too. He might know what to do." Gwendel laid out the plan, his forehead creasing.

"I'll send for him first thing in the morning." Conrad promised.

"Good. Now, I suppose we should retire for now. Conrad, why don't you freshen up and then check on His Majesty again? If he's woken up again, which I doubt, he'll be less likely to throw a tantrum if you're there." Gwendel rubbed his temples at the memory.

The soldier nodded, and then exited his brother's office with Gunter and Wolfram leaving Gwendel to his thoughts and concerns.

A/N: I hope that my assumption on why Yuuri attaches to Conrad isn't too far-fetched. I noticed in the beginning that Conrad and Miko/Jennifer both had brown hair and brown eyes and thought it would be fun to have Yuuri compare the two. Also, in my mind he sort of remembers Conrad from when he was a baby, or at least his image was imprinted in his mind. Then there's the whole soul thing to consider. Not mention his mama probably gushed about the handsome man in the taxi who gave him his name throughout his childhood. It just made the most for me to have Yuuri latch onto Conrad; plus, isn't it cute to imagine a baby Yuuri cuddling with Conrad?


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: First off, thank you to everyone who's enjoying this so far! I love reading all of your reviews; they mean a lot to me that you like it that much. I hope to update at least every two to three days, maybe even sooner if all goes well. Please enjoy this next installment and thanks for your support!

* * *

Chapter Three

_Their trip to town had gone relatively smoothly, even with Wolfram's claims that Yuuri was a cheater, until they started for the castle and storm clouds moved in. Conrad noticed how Yuuri's shoulders tensed and his eyes kept wandering to the approaching black clouds. They could hear thunder approaching and the horses grew agitated as did Yuuri._

_"Your Majesty? Is everything alright?" Conrad asked._

_Yuuri flushed at being found out, "Y-yeah. Everything's fine, Conrad."_

_Except he didn't correct him for the use of his title; Yuuri's mind was focusing on not letting the storm bug him. He hadn't been afraid of storms since he was a kid, but being out in one on a horse in an open field made him worry about getting struck by lightning. Which was silly of course; he was the maou! The maou that made storms come and go all the time whenever justice needed to be done. It would be ridiculous for the maou to fear getting struck by lightning._

_He didn't know when Conrad rode up right next to him, but suddenly the man was there smiling at his side. "Don't worry, Yuuri. It won't hurt you."_

_"I know that!" Yuuri stiffened, his cheeks revealing his embarrassment. "I'm not worried about a silly old storm. It's just rain and electricity like for light bulbs and the TV and the thunder is just the wind moving fast. It can't hurt me, not that I thought it would, I'm just saying…" He rambled on and trailed off as he realized that he sounded like an idiot._

_Conrad just smiled at him and reached over to give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. For a brief second Yuuri looked relieved at the contact and flashed the soldier a grateful look before it vanished in the blink of an eye. He was about to remind Conrad that he wasn't scared when the man leaned over and whispered something in his ear. Yuuri's entire face flamed and Conrad chuckled as he urged his horse forward to give Yuuri some privacy. Yuuri stared after him, ignoring Wolfram's angry demands for an explanation. His gaze softened and suddenly he didn't fear the storm at all. _

The reason it won't hurt you isn't because of that, Yuuri, but because I'm here to protect you.

_"Thank you, Conrad." He whispered softly; too embarrassed to let the other know directly, but he still felt that he needed to convey his gratitude. Knowing Conrad, he probably heard him anyway. _

* * *

Thunder rumbled in the distance and Yuuri's eyes popped open. He clung to the sheets, pulling them up over his nose. He held his breath and waited. Lightning flashed and the thunder roared again; Yuuri sat up straight in alarm. This strange room and these strange people had him scared, but in combination with the storm he was absolutely terrified. _Where are mama and papa and Sho-chan?_ He trembled, his gaze darted all around the room until he landed on the green haired woman sleeping in the chair by the bed. Her hair was messy; it twisted like a sea monster's tail.

He shuddered and looked around him at the bed. It was huge and made him feel lonely and very small. At home he'd just graduated to a big boy bed and this thing was like a trampoline in comparison. 

Had he not been so terrified he would've enjoyed bouncing on it. The sky lit up and growled again and shadow monsters appeared on the walls and the lady's green hair coiled like snakes and the bed was swallowing him whole!

Yuuri bolted from the bed, his overactive imagination getting the better of him, and promptly tripped on the hem of the large shirt he'd been changed into. It was like a dress on him; only not as pretty as the ones his mother was so fond of. Scrambling to his feet, the young boy fled from the scary room in search of his comforting mother, or his brother, or a way home.

The hallway creaked and groaned eerily and was pitch black except when the lightning came, but that made it even more frightening. Occasional footsteps crept close to him in his frantic search, but Yuuri would dash away before he could get caught and possibly eaten. _Mama!_ He cried out mentally, panting heavily as he ran because of fear and exhaustion. _Sho-chan! Somebody!_ Each time he turned a corner it looked like he was right back where he started.

Suddenly a huge shadow loomed on the stone wall in front of him, illuminated by the lightning. Yuuri turned around and ducked behind a pillar, crouching down and hugging his knees tightly. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and wished he was invisible. He started to cry softly as he heard the rhythmic thumping of boots coming closer. Hesitantly, he peered around the pillar in the direction of the shadow that alarmed him.

The brown haired man from earlier entered the hall and paused before vanishing from sight through a doorway. Yuuri calmed down a little; tempted to go after the man that radiated comfort like his mother. He had eyes and hair like her and he seemed nice. He also smelled good. Little Yuuri debated between himself on whether or not to follow him and the storm decided for him. Counting to three in his head, Yuuri took a deep breath and rushed to the door.

* * *

Conrad sighed heavily; the weight on his chest still present. Hopefully they'd be able to help Yuuri return to his proper age soon. The image of Yuuri's small, horrified face was permanently imprinted in his mind. He unbuttoned his uniform jacket and hung it on the rickety wooden chair by his desk. He'd just change into some clean clothes before checking on the little boy; Gwendel had told him to freshen up. Glancing out the window he saw that the rain had escalated into a storm. It seemed to long ago that Yuuri had been complaining about how the two of them couldn't play catch in this weather. It had only been this morning. He began unbuttoning the collar of his white shirt when the door flew open with a loud bang behind him.

Instinctively his hand went to his sword and he managed to turn halfway before he caught a glimpse of the intruder. The very small intruder. His brown eyes blinked slowly as he mentally assessed the situation. A barely three-foot tall Yuuri in a large dress-like shirt with rolled up sleeves trembled in the doorway. His lips quivered and his fingers twisted the hem of his shirt. Conrad relaxed and relinquished his grip on the handle of his sword. They stared at each other for a moment until the storm flashed and roared. Yuuri's eyes went wide and he practically flew over to Conrad in a panic. The soldier managed to kneel down in time to catch the child and shelter him in an embrace. Yuuri's small arms wrapped around his neck and he clung to his back; burying his face in Conrad's shoulder.

He could feel warm wetness smear against his collarbone, but Conrad just continued to hold him. He rubbed Yuuri's back gently as the boy's shoulders shook. A sob bubbled out of Yuuri's chest and Conrad softly hushed him. On the outside, he appeared calm and completely aware of what he was doing. Inwardly, Conrad frantically grasped for any way to prevent the boy from crying. It broke his heart to hear those pained gasps and he felt helpless to do anything about it.

"It's alright, Yuuri." He murmured, trying his hardest not to startle the boy by speaking. "It's okay. I'm right here. It's okay."

Whatever he did appeared to work because Yuuri's shoulders stopped shaking as much and his whimpers became hiccups. His head remained nestled by Conrad's neck and his arms still held on tightly, but the man was just relieved that Yuuri was calming down. Finally his grip loosened and he pulled away to look up into Conrad's face. His dark eyes still glistened with tears and his nose was running so Conrad used his sleeve to clean up Yuuri's face. He sniffled and kept his gaze on his familiar face the entire time.

Conrad smiled warmly, "Feeling better?"

Yuuri hesitated, then nodded and rubbed his eyes before yawning softly.

"Would you like to go back to bed now, Yuuri?" he asked, his heart warming at the adorable sight of a sleepy Yuuri.

Yuuri's eyes were wide again and he shook his head rapidly as he clung to Conrad's arm. Conrad frowned a bit and tried to coax the boy back to his bed, but he wouldn't have it. If this kept on, the flood of tears would be back at full force. Conrad thought back to his childhood and what he and Gwendel did when Wolfram was afraid at night.

"Do you want to stay in here with me?" Yuuri reacted positively to this suggestion; he nodded slightly and tugged on Conrad's sleeve. "Alright, you can stay. But you need to go to sleep now, okay?" Another nod.

Conrad attempted to stand up, but Yuuri's grip tightened. He smiled, a little amused by this, and picked him up off the floor. He carried Yuuri over to his bed and pulled back the covers with one hand before lowering him onto the mattress to tuck him in. The boy watched him the entire time; his eyelids drooping a bit despite his determination to stay awake. He shivered again when the thunder boomed and made an indistinguishable noise of terror as Conrad pulled away.

"Don't worry, Yuuri. I'm not going anywhere." He quieted him with a pat on the head.

Quickly removing his sword from around his waist and undoing his boots, Conrad sat down on the edge of the bed. He moved to lie so that he was on top of the covers facing Yuuri. With a bit of shuffling and squirming, Yuuri managed to snuggle up next to Conrad. A gentle sigh escaped him and he closed his midnight eyes. Just as Conrad thought the child fell asleep, his arms reached for Conrad's own and hugged it tightly. Conrad looked at Yuuri with a mixture of awe, pain, and love. Awe because this child trusted him so implicitly without really knowing him. Pain because his Yuuri would never allow himself to seek out Conrad like this. And love because regardless of how he looked, how could anyone not love Yuuri?


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hi everyone and welcome to chapter four! I'm falling in love with baby Yuuri; so I hope you all are too! I've noticed in some reviews Yuuri's lack of speech is brought up. I hope it's not too annoying that he hasn't really spoken yet, but don't worry, it should happen sooner or later. Yuu-chan is just a little shy. Thank you all of you who are being faithful to this story and reviewing! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Chapter Four

_"Conrad? Hey, Conrad?" _

_Yuuri searched for his protector and friend throughout the halls of the castle. He wanted to see if Conrad was up for some catch since Gunter let him have a break today. It seemed as if he hardly got to spend any time with the half-mazoku at all, so Yuuri was eager to spend any and all free time he had with Conrad. But so far, the man was nowhere to be found. _

_Yozak would probably know where he was since the spy knew almost everything around the castle especially when it concerned his captain. The young king was about to search for the red-head instead when he passed by the library. The door was open a crack, but it didn't look like anyone was in there._

"_It wouldn't hurt to look." Yuuri decided, nudging the door open more and glancing around._

_It was very quiet, though libraries are usually quiet, but it felt so peaceful. He took a few steps towards the window. It had a lovely view of the garden; Cheri's flowers were starting to bloom. He could see the Conrad Stands Upon the Earths very clearly. The sun warmed his skin through the window; it was a beautiful day… which reminded Yuuri of why he was in here. He needed to find Conrad so they could play catch._

_Yuuri spun around and started for the door when he heard a small sound. It was kind of like a sigh. He glanced around, trying to pinpoint where it came from. Down one of the aisles of books there was a chair and table in the back corner. Yuuri's jaw dropped as he gazed at the breath-taking sight._

_Conrad leaned back in the chair with his head lolled to one side so that his cheek rested on his shoulder. His long, dark lashes fluttered against his sunned skin. His arms were folded across his chest and moved steadily as he took deep, peaceful breaths. His lips parted just slightly, the source of the sigh that alerted Yuuri his presence. _

_Never before had Yuuri seen Conrad in such a vulnerable state. Even after all the time he spent in Shin Makoku, he'd never once seen Conrad sleep. On tip toe, Yuuri crept closer to the soldier and knelt down on the ground beside the chair. The sight captivated him; he couldn't bring himself to wake him up. He always wondered when Conrad had time to sleep; the man seemed overworked with guard duty at night, early morning rounds, training his soldiers at midday, and spending what little time he could in the evening with Yuuri before starting all over again._

_Yuuri smiled softly; he was glad he caught Conrad sleeping openly like this. It made him feel a bit more real to him instead of some perfect entity. Although, Yuuri had to admit, he looked pretty perfect caught up in dreamland too. Very quietly, he stole out of the library only to return a few moments later with a blanket. He carefully draped it over Conrad and took a few steps back. He felt a little strange; after all, who enjoyed watching people sleep? But he decided that this was just as good as playing catch. _

_Yuuri watched Conrad sleep for most of the afternoon; managing to sneak away before the soldier woke up, baffled at the blanket bestowed upon him._

* * *

Sunlight trickled in through the square window and warmed the blankets of Conrad's bed. The warmth slowly rose to an unbearable level and little Yuuri twisted in the sheets he cocooned in during his sleep. He finally opened his eyes after some time and struggled to sit up. His hair stuck up in odd angles and his eyes were half open. The room didn't startle him; the sun being out and lighting up the place helped, but he actually remembered coming in here the night before. He looked next to him and felt his heart rate pick up speed when he saw that it was empty. _Where is he?_ Yuuri glanced around nervously, but it didn't take long for him to realize that who he was looking for was seated at his desk with his back to him.

Relief flooded the small child. He quickly tumbled out of bed and padded over to where Conrad was sitting. The soldier had heard Yuuri's thrashing and had expected him to wake up soon, so it didn't surprise him when he popped up right next to him.

He offered him a friendly smile, "Good morning, Yuuri."

To Conrad's utter astonishment, Yuuri smiled back. It was the first time he'd seen the child smile; the only emotion he witnessed the night before was fear followed by exhaustion. Now a genuine grin lit up his face. His eyes practically sparkled as they focused on Conrad. The man seemed to be caught in a stupor until Yuuri tugged on his sleeve.

"Ah, are you hungry, Yuuri? Would you like breakfast?" he ventured, remembering that other than a light snack Yuuri hadn't eaten anything yesterday. Not only had he missed out on breakfast and lunch, his accident caused him to miss dinner as well. Conrad was suddenly very eager to get some food in Yuuri.

Luckily the child nodded, still smiling and reached for Conrad. He took it as a request to be picked up, so he did so and Yuuri's beaming face told him that it was the right thing to do. He noted that the shirt Yuuri was wearing was fine for sleeping in, but it wouldn't do to walk around in public in it.

"Hopefully we'll be able to find you some clothes, too." Conrad stood up balancing Yuuri in his arms and left his room.

When Conrad awoke hours beforehand, he'd taken the time to completely change and then requested that someone else do his morning rounds for him. He thought that leaving Yuuri alone in this state was out of the question; the boy would surely panic again if he woke up alone in a strange place after somehow bonding with Conrad. He also told someone to inform the rest of the castle that the maou was safe with him so no one needed to worry. Shinou knows the hysteria that Gunter and the rest of the castle would've ended up in if they discovered Yuuri missing.

Strangely enough, holding Yuuri in his arms wasn't as bizarre as he thought it would be. Certainly seeing him as a child rather than an awkward sixteen year old was bizarre, but his comfortable weight and warmth was familiar. He supposed it was because he'd seen Yuuri as an infant. The infant that gave him the rubber duck and smiled at him just as this child did now.

As they headed for the dining room, Conrad realized how silent Yuuri was. The sixteen year old usually had many things to chatter on about; but so far the younger Yuuri hadn't said a single word other than the incoherent screams from the previous night. His brown eyes searched Yuuri's face for any signs of distress. So far, Yuuri just appeared wary of his surroundings and clung to Conrad just in case the strange castle tried to rip him away.

"Yuuri?" Conrad kept his voice light, but Yuuri still looked up startled anyway. "Can you… you know how to speak, right Yuuri?"

The child scrunched up his face and nodded firmly, as if he were offended by the notion that he couldn't talk. This relieved Conrad, but still didn't explain why he had yet to say anything.

"Will you talk to me?" he asked, shifting Yuuri's weight to his left side.

Yuuri bit down on his lower lip and his eye brows furrowed like Gwendal's did when he worried over cute animals. He looked oddly conflicted for a five year old. Eventually he just shook his head and looked away. Conrad tried to ignore the pain that caused him, but it did make sense. Yuuri saw him as someone who could remind him of his mother, he didn't really feel comfortable enough with him to speak to him. After all, he'd probably been taught to never talk to strangers.

They arrived in the dining room; everyone was already seated and eating. As Conrad approached the table Gunter looked up and promptly rose to greet the young king. Yuuri stiffened upon seeing all the people at the table and Gunter approaching him just made him more agitated. He started to squirm; attempting to get out of Conrad's arms to go hide somewhere, but the soldier held on tightly. Gunter's face fell and he proceeded to weep.

"His Majesty doesn't love me anymore!" he choked out a sob and buried his face in his hands.

"Gunter, I think he'd be less likely to get upset if you didn't startle him with your… enthusiasm. He's still nervous about being here." Conrad told Gunter, easing Yuuri into his seat and surprised to see that only the top of his head reached the table. "I think we'll need a higher chair."

Yuuri craned his head upward and blinked at Conrad as if to say "you think?" and Gunter immediately set to it, "His Majesty needs a new chair!"

Conrad couldn't help but wonder how being addressed as 'Your Majesty' and being treated as a king would affect Yuuri's mind. Perhaps he'd become spoiled? He glanced down at the child beside him and noticed that the boy was now able to reach the table. _How?_ He looked at the seat of the chair; Yuuri was sitting on his knees. He chuckled inwardly; of course Yuuri would remain self-sufficient even as a child.

"It's alright, Gunter. I think he can handle it." Conrad gestured to the chair.

Gunter shook his head, "But, Your Majesty… won't your knees get sore and stiff? I cannot possibly allow such a malady to afflict your delicate body."

Yuuri stared at him; he seemed to be understanding that he was this "Majesty" that everyone spoke of. He shrugged and placed his index finger in his mouth as he looked down at his knees. On earth it wasn't so unusual for children to sit like this. His stomach started to growl and, instead of blushing and stammering as the sixteen year old would have, he looked at the plates of food in front of the others forlornly.

Suddenly, a plate appeared in front of him courtesy of Doria. He brightened considerably before his expression became confused. Conrad glanced down at the food in front of him. It looked fine… Yuuri often ate this dish before and claimed to like it. Everyone had the same thing and they looked down at their own plates and back to Yuuri, unsure of why he wasn't eating his food if he was hungry.

Conrad grasped the reason first; their food didn't look like the kind Yuuri was used to on earth. He'd mentioned something about that when he first arrived here, but young adults are more apt to trying new things than small children. Yuuri's stomach growled again, but he refused to pick up his spork and eat.

"Yuuri." Yuuri's head snapped up when Conrad called him and saw the man take a bite of his own food. "It's good, see?"

"Conrad! It's not proper to eat before the maou has when he's present at the table!" Gunter exclaimed, sounding scandalized.

Gwendal held up a hand to silence the fretting advisor, "He's just trying to get him to eat, Gunter. It's fine."

Yuuri looked around the table and noticed that everyone had indeed stopped eating and were waiting on him. He bit his lower lip and looked back at Conrad who took another bite. Well, the food hadn't killed Conrad… and he was hungry. His small, baby hand wrapped around his spork and he scooped up something that had the same consistency as scrambled eggs and popped it in his mouth. He chewed slowly, watching Conrad watch him. Finally he swallowed and paused. The room fell silent and still; waiting for Yuuri's judgment. The child just took another bite and then another and everyone relaxed in unison.

As they ate, Conrad remembered his thoughts earlier on Yuuri's clothes, "Gunter, His Majesty is going to need something to wear. Do you know if Mother kept any of our baby clothes?" Cheri was currently on one of her free love cruises.

Gunter smiled while Wolfram stared at Yuuri for some reason, "Don't worry. I've already had a tailor get to work on proper attire for him."

"Good, but how did you know his measurements?" Conrad inquired, his eyes drawn to the strange expression on his younger brother's face.

"I had several sizes that I asked for based on what I saw of His Majesty last night. Surely one of them will fit him." He informed him, sounding quite sure about his judgment.

"I see. Wolfram? What's the matter?" Conrad turned to look at what Wolfram was looking at, which was Yuuri, and found his answer.

The boy was glaring at him! Well, as much of a glare as a child could muster up. "He made that face after you asked about the clothes the first time." Wolfram supplied and Conrad thought back to what he'd said that would make Yuuri react in such a way.

_It's Yuuri! You should know, you named me!_

Conrad smiled apologetically, "Sorry, Yuuri."

This seemed to appease him and Yuuri went back to eating his food. Conrad settled for watching him; it was amazing how much of him was the same and yet so much was different about him.

After breakfast, Gunter was informed that the clothes were ready.

"That was fast." Wolfram muttered and Gunter puffed out his chest in pride.

"I had every tailor in the kingdom working on clothes for His Majesty. I pray that they will not disappoint." He led them to Yuuri's bedroom where the clothes were laid out on the bed.

A replica of his traditional black uniform in a smaller size was the first in line, followed by tunics of multiple colors and fashioned from expensive silk. There were leggings and pants and cloaks and undershirts and polished shoes filling the room. Gunter looked at Yuuri expectantly, but the child appeared overwhelmed by all the fancy clothes. He was used to his mother putting him in dresses, but this was ridiculous!

"Gunter… these are all very nice, but…" Conrad figured that Yuuri was an active child and would most likely want to run around outside. These clothes didn't cater to that exactly.

"His Majesty will be the sweetest of all children; fit to be the child of The Great Sage himself!" Gunter was going on, oblivious to everyone's concern over the outfits.

"Lord von Christ, I'm flattered, but I really don't want Shibuya to be my love child. No offense, Shibuya." Everyone turned around to see Murata standing in the doorway with Yozak at his side.

"I fetched him just like you asked." Yozak gave a cheerful salute to Gwendal, before looking down at Yuuri. "Wow. You weren't joking. The kid's a kid! A really little kid."

"Yozak." Conrad warned; he didn't want Yuuri to become upset by any teasing, though the boy seemed fascinated by Yozak's hair for the time being.

Yozak grinned sheepishly, "Sorry, captain. I couldn't resist."

Meanwhile, Murata walked up to little Yuuri and bent down in front of him, "Hi, Yuu-chan." He smiled, using the nickname that Miko Shibuya gave her son and his best children's voice. It eased Yuuri up some, "I'm Murata Ken, nice to meet you."

Yuuri nodded and smiled a tiny bit; Murata was familiar to him given that he had black hair and black eyes like his father and brother. Hair like Yozak's and the others were uncommon and just a bit strange to him. Murata gave him a pat on the head and looked at the clothes on the bed.

"Oh, no. This won't do at all. How will Yuu-chan be able to play in these?" Murata shook his head. "Well, I suppose a quick trip to earth is in order." He smiled at Yuuri again, "What's your favorite color?" Yuuri looked around, his eyes settled on a blue tunic and pointed at it. "Blue?" he received a nod as his response. "Okay, blue it is. I'll be back in a week or two. It depends on how amiable Shinou feels like being. Take good care of Little Shibuya."

"But, Your Holiness, what about turning Yuuri back?" Wolfram questioned; luckily the child in question wasn't paying attention and got distracted by Yozak's hair again.

Murata fixed his glasses and they gleamed dangerously, "We'll just have to wait and see."

Somehow the mood turned ominous and everyone looked down at Yuuri, who was blissfully unaware of his current predicament.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Over the past week, Conrad had grown quite accustomed to being tugged on. Instead of using his words, Yuuri would grab onto Conrad's hand, sleeve, leg, or the hem of his shirt whenever he wanted attention.

"Well, his mind did become that of a child's. Maybe he doesn't know our language anymore so he can't speak it?" Wolfram suggested after Gunter failed to get Yuuri to ask for the slice of cake instead of pointing at it and looking cute for the thirtieth time.

"I don't think that's it." Gwendal watched Yuuri scarf down the cake with the same softness he reserved for kittens. "He can understand us when we speak to him, so I don't think it's a language barrier. He's just not comfortable enough with us. It could be a post-traumatic side effect."

"Besides, remember when His Majesty first came here? Our language was already born into His Majesty's soul; it just needed to be unlocked." Gunter recalled; he'd been displeased to find out that Adelbert had dared to touch the maou, but it had allowed Yuuri to speak with them. "The language is part of his soul, not his mind, and I don't believe souls can regress so he must still be able to speak it. Gwendal's right; he's just not comfortable yet."

Everyone agreed with that notion while Yuuri dropped his spork suddenly and toddled over to Conrad. He climbed onto his lap where he curled up and promptly fell asleep. Half the cake sat forgotten on the table in favor of the soldier. So far, Yuuri had developed the habit of dropping anything and everything when he wanted Conrad… which happened to be most of the time. The child followed him around like a duckling would to their mother. Wolfram couldn't help but snicker at the idea of Conrad being a mother while the man in question still felt awkward about the comparison. But he would gladly take the awkwardness if it meant he'd have Yuuri's desire to be in his company. At sixteen, he'd already shown his preference to being with the soldier before anyone else and in childhood that preference multiplied tenfold.

After the first night, Yuuri refused to sleep in his own room. They'd place him in there and tuck him in, but as soon as they left he'd hop out and follow Conrad down the hall. No matter how many times they tried to coax him back to his room, Yuuri would stubbornly refuse and begin bawling if they carried him back. Conrad didn't mind that Yuuri wanted to sleep in his room, but Gunter and Gwendal believed that it was inappropriate and the maou would only become spoiled if they continued to cater to him like this. Still, their resolve faded at the sight of Yuuri's tears and every night Yuuri wound up in Conrad's bed.

Yuuri had a habit of snuggling, too. While he slept, when he wanted to be carried, when he was upset, when he was happy, and sometimes for no reason at all. This change startled them the most. Conrad quickly adapted to Yuuri randomly latching onto his leg or burying his face in his chest; it happened so often it was hard not to adjust. He even reciprocated a bit by tussling Yuuri's hair or rubbing his back. Wolfram, however, had been shocked and turned beet red when Yuuri tried to attach himself to his arm while he was lonely once.

"W-wimp! What're you doing?!" Wolfram sputtered on instinct, forgetting for a moment that this Yuuri would respond differently to the familiar insult and immediately regretted opening his mouth at all when large black eyes filled with tears and he started crying.

The blonde fire demon didn't know what to do; he tried everything to calm Yuuri down. He made funny faces, offered to paint with him, and tried to give him a hug like he'd seen Conrad and Gunter do. He ended up dragging him to where Conrad and Gwendal were having a meeting. Wolfram's jaw dropped when Yuuri immediately stopped crying after being picked up by Conrad.

"How do you do that?" he inquired after his older brother.

Conrad honestly didn't know; other than having similar physical traits as Miko Shibuya, he was nothing like Yuuri's mother at all.

"Perhaps it's just you and your sweet, loving, maternal nature that the kiddo adores." Yozak teased, not minding the glare Conrad sent his way.

Whatever it was about him, he couldn't complain because it allowed him to keep close to his king and make sure nothing was seriously wrong with him other than the regression. Also, Yuuri was an adorable child and Conrad loved his company. Though this didn't keep him from regularly checking with the maids and Dakoskos to see if they'd found anything suspicious in the treasury or any way to change him back.

"Well, we found this necklace when we were going through the pile His Majesty got buried in." Sangria held out a familiar blue pendant, "It looks familiar, but Lord Wolfram said that His Majesty was looking at mirrors when it happened."

"The pendant actually belongs to His Majesty." Conrad told her; he'd forgotten all about Julia's necklace in his worry over the child.

The pendant captured Yuuri's interest immediately; his black eyes pleaded with Conrad to let him have it and the soldier gave in. "Make sure you're very careful not to lose it, Yuuri. I'm trusting you with this."

Yuuri nodded seriously and clasped the pendant tightly. Having Conrad's trust was a big deal to the little guy. Conrad smiled softly at Yuuri's attempt to look grown up and responsible and ruffled the boy's hair. A knock on the bedroom door interrupted their moment.

"Yes?" Conrad was surprised to see the Great Sage at his door; one, because he didn't know that he'd returned from earth and two, he was carting a load of little boys' clothes.

"Special delivery for Shibuya Yuu-chan." He grinned and Yuuri beamed at the variety of clothes Murata brought him. It was no secret that he hated the clothes Gunter had made for him. He always pulled on them, letting Conrad knowing they were too stuffy and itchy but there wasn't much the soldier could about it. He also got in trouble when he went scampering around outside and tripped; he had ripped and muddied one of his nicer tunics. Gunter was still in a funk over that one.

Conrad took the clothes off of Murata's hands and relieved him of the weight. "Look at these, Yuuri. They're all for you." Yuuri looked at Conrad expectantly, "Yes, you'll be able to play in these as much as you want." He bounced excitedly and hugged Murata around the legs and then Conrad before tugging on his pant leg. "Would you like to try them on?"

Yuuri nodded enthusiastically and reached up for the clothes while Murata looked on in amusement, "I bet he's happy I didn't bring him dresses. He's probably still at the age where Mama dressed him as a girl."

Yuuri's smile faltered as he was reminded of his mother. His lower lip trembled and he blinked rapidly. Conrad and Murata were stunned by this mood swing. The clothes were placed in a neat stack on Conrad's bed and he knelt down to properly comfort Yuuri. Instead off his usual clinging, he just held onto Conrad's hand. He squeezed it gently and Conrad lifted Yuuri up and sat him on the bed.

"Lord Weller, there'll be a meeting in a little while in Lord von Voltaire's office." Murata informed him as he watched the soldier stroke the boy's hair in a soothing manner. "Have Little Shibuya play with Greta during that time."

"Alright. Thank you, Your Holiness."

The Great Sage took his leave; the bond between those two didn't escape his notice. He hoped that Shinou knew what he was getting them into. He sighed and headed towards Gwendal's office, while Conrad helped Yuuri change into more suitable clothes. He lifted the oddly fashioned tunic over the boy's head, followed by the itchy undershirt. His black eyes dimmed with melancholy; it was clear that he missed his mother.

"I'm sure your mother misses you, Yuuri. She's probably thinking about you right now." Conrad's voice was a gentle sound that relaxed him a great deal. "But you know what? She's also thinking about how brave you are. She's very proud of you for managing to put up with all of us. She knows how scary everything must seem to you, but she believes in you and loves you very much, doesn't she?"

Yuuri sniffled and nodded, lifting his arms up so Conrad could put the t-shirt on him. He stepped into a pair of shorts after that and Conrad tied his new sneakers for him. While he wasn't sure if Yuuri knew how to adequately express gratitude at this young age, it shone in his eyes nonetheless.

"You're a good boy, Yuuri. Your mother has raised you well." The child smiled shyly at the praise, "Now, would you feel better if you went and played with Greta for a little while? I need to talk to Gwendal about something." Yuuri nodded without hesitation; even though he was attached to Conrad, it was still nice to play with another child and Greta adored her new playmate. "Okay, let's go find her then. I think she might be in the garden right now." He took Yuuri's hand and led him down the hall. "You'll get to play in the dirt now; I bet you're happy about that." Yuuri grinned and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before nodding again, skipping a little in his excitement to actually play. Conrad laughed warmly, and allowed Yuuri to pull him towards the garden.

* * *

Gwendal, Gunter, Wolfram, and Conrad sat facing the bearers of possible good or bad news. Sangria and Lasagna appeared nervous, the red-head cradling a wrapped object in her arms. Anissina looked particularly pleased with herself and clutched a roll of paper in her hand that had Gwendal immediately wary. Murata stood off to the side with Yozak; the Great Sage appeared pensive while Yozak was travel-worn after spending the past week searching for any information on regression. A strange feeling writhed in Conrad's gut; his hand instinctively clenched, forgetting that Yuuri's small hand was not there to be grasped. He'd grown so used to having the child at his side constantly; it felt unnatural for him not to be there. Conrad chastised himself for growing so attached; this was just a temporary state and Conrad was only doing this to keep Yuuri calm and happy. Too bad the soldier didn't believe his own excuses at all.

A cough sounded and brought Conrad's attention to his older brother. "This meeting has been called on account of the maou's current condition." Gwendal began seriously, his frown deepening just a bit. "I'd like to see what progress you've made in finding a way to reverse this."

Gunter nodded and gestured to the two maids to begin first. They glanced at each other before Lasagna stepped forward and placed the wrapped package on the table. She took a deep breath and undid the binding around it revealing several mirrors, one being an oval-shaped mirror with an ornate design. Every single glass surface either had a large crack in it or pieces missing from it. Wolfram hissed at the sight of the mirrors and Conrad stiffened.

"We believe that one of these mirrors is what transformed His Majesty into a child." Sangria explained, "They all respond to maryoku, but…" she trailed off and Lasagna picked up the slack.

"They don't function properly anymore. We experimented on Dakoskos and the results were a bit unpleasant…" she bit her lip as she recalled how the poor man grew a five foot long beard in one instance and when his ears grew in another—luckily Gisela had been there to help fix it. "It would be unacceptable to try any of them on His Majesty."

"Speaking of experimenting…" Anissina cut in before anyone else could comment on the maids' discovery, "I have right here before me the plans for my newest invention: 'Age-Me-Quicker-So-I-Can-Be-Legal-kun!'"

"No." Gwendel didn't even want to hear about any ideas for any inventions.

"What does 'legal' have to do with changing Yuuri back? Isn't that the law?" Wolfram huffed, not particularly impressed with the title.

Anissina smirked, "Ah, I asked His Majesty the exact same question when I overheard him speaking with His Holiness about it."

Murata grinned sheepishly, "Ah, on earth it's a term used to mean you're old enough to have sex with anyone that's not younger than you."

Everyone fell silent until Gunter had to excuse himself while covering his nose. Conrad rubbed his temple, he became familiar with the term thanks to Jose Rodriguez during his stay on earth and it embarrassed him when he thought of it applying to a sixteen year old Yuuri. Embarrassing only because the idea appealed to him before he grew disgusted with himself.

"Why don't we move on?" Conrad suggested before Anissina could go into too much detail about her new invention. "Yozak, have you found any useful information?"

Yozak, who'd been smirking at Murata's explanation, faltered at being addressed and sighed, "Well… it's not very good news, captain."

"Any and all information is welcomed, Yozak. Especially concerning His Majesty." Gunter stepped up when Conrad failed to respond, not liking that the news wasn't good.

"There aren't too many leads on a case like the kid's, but I did stumble upon a couple. Mostly in the countryside bordering on human territory." He began, carefully choosing his words. "There was one instance where the guy was only a kid for a couple of days and just magically popped back. No explanation at all. They think that one came from the pollen of some weird plant and it just eventually wore off, but it really doesn't apply to us since His Majesty wasn't near strange plants when it happened. The other two aren't as… hopeful as this one though…" He paused for a second, and then chose the best way to go about his explanation. "For one family, their grandfather de-aged when he was out in the market and had to grow up all over again. And in the last one…" Yozak swallowed and looked at the ground, "The kid got sick and died. His organs just shut down and he hallucinated and had a really high fever."

The tension in the room thickened; Conrad even swore it muffled his hearing, but he didn't have time to think about that. The child died? His brow furrowed; there could be another explanation for the death. It didn't have to be because he regressed that he died. His heart throbbed painfully in his chest; what if Yuuri died? What if his body couldn't handle the drastic change for that long? Or his mind?

"There must be something else. There has to be." He ground out, raising his serious gaze to Yozak.

The spy shook his head, "There were two more accounts of children dying mysteriously once they regressed, but that was it."

Conrad felt sick to his stomach; luckily, Gwendal continued the interrogation. "How did those people regress? Was there any information on that?"

Yozak shook his head, "They don't know. They found the victims unconscious as children, similar to how you found His Majesty, but they didn't say if there were mirrors involved." Everyone's faces reflected a different kind of alarm and uneasiness; all except Murata.

"Those are only a few possibilities." The Great Sage piped up, a little too cheerfully, "Shinou believes that Little Shibuya should be okay; he sees this as a challenge for him. A sort of… journey of self-discovery through being a child again. I'm sure Ulrike would be more concerned if this was that serious. So far, she's just asked me when she can see a baby His Majesty."

The tension faded and people began to relax, except for Conrad and Wolfram, that is. Wolfram didn't like the prospect of Yuuri having to grow up all over again and death was an even worse possibility. Conrad, though he'd love Yuuri no matter what the boy looked like, worried over his physical and mental well-being. The meeting concluded with the unanimous decision to wait for any news from Ulrike and to watch the maou very, very carefully for any troublesome signs. Conrad inwardly swore that the child would only leave his sight if it was absolutely necessary. Knowing Yuuri's typical habit of getting into trouble, the worst things usually happened when Conrad wasn't looking.

Speaking of which, he was suddenly very eager to check up on Yuuri. He didn't need to be told twice when the meeting adjourned; Conrad hurried out of the study and towards the garden, new anxiety bubbling up within him.

* * *

A/N: Oh no… is something bad going to happen to Yuu-chan? Why has he not spoken to anyone? Will Murata's glasses ever stop gleaming?! Find out next time! …lame, I know. Well, I hope you liked this chapter; sorry it took a little longer than expected. Chapter six should be up this weekend if everything goes smoothly. Thanks for reading and reviewing!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I'm so glad that so many of you like this story! Thank you very much for your reviews and support! I know it's a bit later than I promised, but I had some last minute editing I wanted to do. So, I hope you enjoy chapter 6! It's one of my favorites so far.

* * *

Chapter 6

"Yuuri! Over here!"

The little boy turned his head and saw Greta sitting in the garden, waving at him excitedly. A circle of beautiful flowers surrounded her. He smiled shyly and wandered over to her to see what occupied her time.

"I'm making a flower crown for Wolfram." She told him when he crouched down beside her, "Do you want to make one?" He nodded wholeheartedly and looked around, "There are more pretty flowers over there." Greta pointed to another patch of soil that blossomed with colorful petals. "Be careful with them though; don't step on any."

Taking Greta's words into consideration, he meandered over to another flower bed. There were so many to choose from. A big blue flower caught his eye and he made a bee-line for it while avoiding the other flowers. It reminded him of the necklace that Conrad had given him earlier that day; the same shade of sapphire. He glanced down at the gem thoughtfully. It sparkled around his neck and he smiled; he'd made a promise to be very careful with it and he figured that playing in the dirt with it on wouldn't be taking very good care of it. He slipped the cord off from around his neck and placed the necklace in his pocket.

His attention was brought back to the blue flower, but he didn't want to pick the big one just yet. It looked too pretty to uproot. Luckily, there were a whole lot of blue flowers behind it and Yuuri went for those instead. He picked several of them and carried them back to where Greta was threading her flowers together.

She looked up as he approached her, "Are you going to use those?" She recognized the flowers as Cheri's precious Conrad Stands Upon the Earth. "They're very nice. Want me to show you how to make a crown with them?"

He nodded and sat down beside her; watching intently as she tied the stems together and showed him how to connect the other flowers to the first two to make a circle. Yuuri took this very seriously and Greta watched as the boy who was actually her father attempted the task. They were really alike; she decided and noticed that he only used the blue flowers and occasional white ones that he found.

His wreath was a mess; being only five years old hindered his sense of aesthetics. It was lopsided and the petals were falling off, but Greta could see all the hard work he was putting into making it. She wanted to help him, but at the same time she knew it was something he'd need to do on his own.

"Do you think Wolfram will like mine?" Greta held up her multi-colored bouquet of a wreath. Yuuri nodded in awe of her creation and then looked back down at his floppy, not quite a circle crown. "Who are you making yours for?"

Yuuri stopped abruptly. Who would he give it to? Something like this was usually reserved for his mother like his drawings that she'd hang on the fridge as if they were the greatest masterpieces she'd ever laid eyes upon. He knew she loved flowers and would be thrilled to receive his gift, but he didn't know where she was. Glancing over at Greta's flowers he realized that Wolfram was her dad, however weird that was, so that was why she was giving them to him. A parent.

His lower lip trembled; Conrad's words earlier did comfort him some… but it didn't change the fact that he was still homesick and wanted his mom. He wanted to tell someone that, but for some reason, Yuuri felt as if he couldn't speak. Every time he tried, his stomach would hurt. Conrad seemed to understand him without needing to speak though, which made him feel… nice.

Yuuri brightened with this piece of insight. He'd give the flowers to Conrad! Surely he'd like them! The tummy ache went away and he started to fix the wreath. If he was going to give it to Conrad it needed to look much nicer.

Greta watched him scurry around for more flowers; scuffing his knees and getting dirt on his clothes as he worked hard. She didn't mind that he didn't talk; she knew how scary it was to be away from home and knew that Yuuri hadn't grown up in Shin Makoku. Gisela and Anissina told her that Yuuri was most likely suffering from culture shock not to mention trauma from regressing so quickly without warning. The green haired nurse surmised that perhaps his mind and body weren't fully in sync yet. Even though he seemed fine on the outside, on the inside it was a totally different story. Plus, they didn't know what kind of child their maou had been.

A sound of frustration brought Greta's attention to the pout that Yuuri sported. He appeared to be glaring at the wilting flowers. Greta reached over and patted his shoulder. "Yuuri, it looks great!"

Her vote of confidence helped Yuuri relax a bit and his scowl ebbed. He supposed it wasn't so bad… though he still envied Greta's perfect circlet.

"Greta!" Both children looked up to see Wolfram standing a ways off with his arms crossed; there was a fond look in his emerald eyes that Yuuri found a bit unusual even though he didn't know Wolfram that well.

Greta leapt up with her flowers in hand, "Wolfram! Are you done with your meeting now?"

"Yes, now get out of there. You too, Yuuri." Greta climbed out and helped the young maou out, "What do you have there, Greta?"

She giggled and skipped over to him so she could present the gift, "I made this for you! Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful, Greta. That's my daughter. You have an eye for artistic beauty, just like me." Wolfram allowed his adopted child to place it on his head; it complimented his golden hair.

Yuuri suddenly felt ashamed of his flowers; what would Conrad think if he saw Wolfram's pretty flower crown and got Yuuri's floppy one?

"Oh, Gunter! They're over here! Tell Weller that." Wolfram lowered his voice a bit at the last part; as if he didn't want people to know he'd willingly help his half-brother out. It's just that he got annoying when he worried about things. Things being Yuuri. He looked over at the forlorn child, "Hey, Weller's been looking for you. You should at least pretend to be happy to see him."

Yuuri scrunched up his face and gave Wolfram a look that could only be described as cutely annoyed. It cleared up when Gunter appeared out of nowhere and flew towards him, "Your Majesty! I've missed you so much! It's been too long- what happened to your clothes?! And you?!"

Dirt covered his knees, from where he'd been kneeling, and his clothes. All in all, it wasn't that bad. He'd gotten dirtier before playing catch with Shori or running around the playground or making mud people. He didn't understand why Gunter sounded so upset; the worst his own mother ever said was how she thought boys were so boring.

"Yuuri?" the child broke into a wide smile as Conrad walked over; appearing quite relieved to see the young maou.

At the sight of the soldier, all of his insecurities about his wreath vanished and he felt incredibly eager to show it off to him. Yuuri darted around Gunter and hopped over to Conrad and held up his flowers. The abrupt action caught the soldier off guard and he blinked down at the misshapen wreath of blue flowers. The blue flowers that his mother had named for him. He smiled gently and bent down to be at Yuuri's level. Large black eyes watched him expectantly with an unspoken question lingering behind the smile he put up front.

"Is this for me?" Yuuri pushed his flowers closer to Conrad, "Thank you, Yuuri. They're beautiful. Did you make this all by yourself?"

He pointed at Greta, but the girl shook her head, "Yuuri made it all by himself, Conrad!"

Placing a hand atop Yuuri's head, he ruffled his hair gently. He took the flowers and handled them carefully, "I know just what to do with them." Conrad looked back at Yuuri and finally understood what Gunter had been moaning about when he saw the boy's state of dress. "I know just what to do with you too. You need a bath."

Yuuri smiled sheepishly and reached up to take Conrad's hand. Wolfram watched the exchange with some curiosity and jealousy; he'd accepted that Yuuri was drawn to Conrad because of the whole comfort issue, but that didn't mean that he'd still allow his fiancée to go off gallivanting with his brother. Sure, the engagement was suspended and Yuuri had no idea that they'd ever been engaged, but it didn't change the fact that once he turned sixteen again things would be back to normal. He didn't want think about the option that Yuuri may have to grow up all over again; that was just unacceptable.

"I'll take him to have a bath." Wolfram offered, though became a bit offended when Yuuri looked at him with a fearful expression before turning back to Conrad and holding onto him tighter. "Yuuri. Come on, you don't want to bother Weller anymore do you?" Perhaps he could guilt the child into spending time with him; he recognized how wrong this was, but he couldn't help it.

Yuuri looked down at his feet and kicked at the dirt a bit. When he looked up at Conrad again, the man had constructed a neutral mask. He didn't want Yuuri to think he was bothering him, by no means was he, and he selfishly wanted to spend time with the young king… but he didn't want to upset his younger brother by being that selfish.

"Ah, how about this Yuuri," Conrad smiled at him again, "Why don't you go take your bath with Wolfram and then after, I'll have a surprise for you, okay?" He laughed inwardly when Yuuri's eyes lit up at the word 'surprise'. "Does that sound good?"

Yuuri nodded, releasing Conrad's hand and letting him go. He allowed Wolfram to take his hand and lead him to the bath with Greta following until they reached her room where she ducked into to pick out a story for Wolfram to read to her later. Gunter also tagged along; he refused to let the blonde be in charge of a small child that happened to be their king. He didn't consider him responsible enough.

"I'll get some towels for His Majesty." Gunter told Wolfram once they arrived. "Be very careful with him."

"I know." Wolfram scowled; he took care of Greta didn't he? He could take care of Yuuri too!

Once Gunter left the room, Wolfram helped Yuuri out of his dirty clothes. The bathtub was huge; Yuuri hadn't expected it. So far he'd taken his baths in Conrad's bathroom because it was closer to his room. The tub was much smaller there; this was like a swimming pool! His black eyes focused on the water, obviously wary of going in there. He hesitated as Wolfram nudged him closer to the bath.

"You know how to wash yourself, right Yuuri?" Wolfram asked as he handed the boy a bar of soap.

Yuuri nodded slowly and stiffened when Wolfram placed him on the step of the bath. The water felt nice and warm; and sitting on the step wasn't so bad. He relaxed and started to run the soap up and down his arm while Wolfram watched over him from the edge of the pool.

* * *

Conrad tacked a small hook on the door to his room and hung the ringlet of flowers upon it like a real wreath. He smiled fondly at the decoration; another personal touch to the rather bare room. It went along with the baseball, glove, and rubber duck he kept on his shelf. As he went retrieve the ball and glove, the duck caught his eye. Yuuri liked to play with it in the bath. He picked it up off the shelf and decided to deliver it to his young charge while he waited for him to finish his bath. Once he was done, he planned to take the boy outside to play catch before dinner. They had yet to do so and he knew that it would cheer him up. Of course, he might get a little dirty again, but it's not like he couldn't have two baths, right?

He left the room and headed for the maou's private bath where he figured Wolfram had taken him before he'd go to pick up the child size glove he asked Dakoskos to make the other day.

* * *

"Wolfram, could you help me with these?" Gunter's voice was muffled seeing as he was trying to balance a rather large stack of towels and scented shampoo and perfumes.

The blonde frowned, "What're you doing with all those? He's small he just needs one towel."

"But I don't want His Majesty to catch a cold because he wasn't dried properly. Children have weaker immune systems." Gunter tried to reason as he and Wolfram fumbled with the bath related items.

Yuuri watched them with amusement. He noticed that a lot of people around here were funny; especially Gunter. Wolfram was funny, too, but sometimes his temper scared him. He also thought that Wolfram probably didn't want to be seen as funny. He went back to cleaning himself up when the soap slipped out of his hands and plopped into the water. Yuuri sighed; he hated when that happened.

Without really thinking about it; Yuuri hopped off the step to go fetch the soap before it melted in the bath and he promptly sank. He didn't realize it was this deep! It really was a swimming pool! Yuuri opened his mouth to call for help, but only water filled his lungs as he thrashed around. He didn't know how to swim; he was still learning. His chest burned and he wanted to cry; but there was already too much water around him, crying would just make it worse.

"What does he need Mother's perfume for?" Wolfram demanded to know; waving the contents that Gunter brought with him in his face. "He's a child; he doesn't need any of these things."

"But he's also the maou; and he's used all of this before!" Gunter wailed just as Conrad entered the room.

"Yeah, when he was sixteen. All he needs is soap and then he'll be good." Wolfram eyed the shampoo bottle, "And maybe some of this." He looked over at Conrad, "What're you doing here?"

He smiled in response, "I just wanted to bring Yuuri his duck." He held up the yellow toy and gave it a squeak.

Wolfram blushed, embarrassed that his older brother would have such a thing in his possession, and pointed towards the bath. "Well, he's right over there."

Conrad turned to walk towards the water and froze when he didn't see any part of the child at all. Wolfram and Gunter noticed his pause and followed his gaze. Both gasped in unison.

"H-he was just right there! On the step!" Wolfram exclaimed.

Gunter moaned, "Oh, you don't think he got transported back to earth, do you? Oh… Your Majesty!"

Conrad frowned and his brown eyes skimmed the surface of the pool. A small amount of bubbles were disturbing the surface and his blood chilled once he saw them. He dropped the glove and duck and landed in the bath with a splash. He wrapped his arms around warm flesh and pulled a coughing, flailing Yuuri to the surface. The boy's face had a bluish tinge that reddened as he spat up water. Conrad sighed with relief and carried him back over to the step. He sat down, still fully clothed and thoroughly soaked, and held Yuuri on his lap as he patted his back to help dispel the water.

Yuuri's coughing fit ceased after a few minutes and the color returned to his cheeks. "Are you alright, Yuuri?"

He shook his head and grabbed onto Conrad tightly. Conrad remained unyielding with his own hold on Yuuri, tucking the boy's wet head against his chest. The figure in his arms started to shiver and Conrad glared at Wolfram and Gunter. Gunter watched the two apologetically and was thoroughly ashamed of himself. While Wolfram refused to look at them; he couldn't believe that he completely screwed this up. He didn't know Yuuri couldn't swim. The fact that he was coming up with excuses sickened him.

After Conrad spent some time coddling Yuuri, he pulled back a bit and looked into nervous obsidian eyes. He ran his fingers through Yuuri's limp, black hair and smiled as the gesture made his hair stick up wildly. Keeping him on his lap, Conrad reached down and grabbed what remained of the soap off the floor of the bath and started to wash him. Yuuri made a relaxed, happy sound; he liked how gentle Conrad's touches were even though his hands felt rough. Conrad pressed his lips to the top of Yuuri's head lightly and started to rinse him off.

Gunter handed him a towel when they came out of the bath and Conrad wrapped Yuuri up tightly; the boy's hair dripped into his eyes so they used one of the smaller towels to dry his hair. Conrad scooped him up and cradled him close before nodding to Gunter and taking his leave. Yuuri waved to Wolfram and Gunter, but only the silver-haired man returned the gesture. Wolfram kicked over the bottles of perfume and shampoo Gunter had brought with him and watched them spill out onto the floor.

* * *

Yuuri picked out a blue t-shirt and khaki shorts. Conrad helped the little boy into the clothes and watched as something dawned on the child. He hurried over to his dirty clothes and reached into the pocket of his shorts. The pendant dangled from his little fist and he quickly put it on over his head.

"You're taking very good care of it, aren't you?" Conrad watched Yuuri admire the pendant. He nodded, and then pointed at the flowers that hung on the door, "I'm taking good care of your flowers, too. They're very special to me." Yuuri grinned and pressed the pendant close to his heart. Conrad swallowed thickly; it didn't do any good to get so emotional over such an innocent gesture, but somehow without words Yuuri was telling Conrad that he was special to him, too.

He laughed it off when he saw that Yuuri became concerned with the lack of a response, "Ah, that's right. Did you want that surprise I talked about earlier?" Yuuri hopped up and down and nodded while making noises of affirmation. "Okay. Let's go see Dakoskos and then I'll show you the surprise."

Little Yuuri tottered down the hall at Conrad's heels, too excited to be carried. He waited outside the servants' quarters as Conrad spoke with Dakoskos; bouncing on the balls of his feet as he tried very hard to be patient. When Conrad reemerged, Yuuri watched him eagerly before the man smiled and held up a small baseball glove just his size. While he expected the boy to be happy, he certainly hadn't expected him to squeal and latch onto him like that. Absolute adoration shimmered in Yuuri's eyes as he gazed up at Conrad and he reciprocated the expression as he found himself being tugged in the direction of the courtyard so they could play catch.

Their little game became addicting rather quickly; Yuuri started laughing and giggling uncontrollably whenever he missed the ball or fell down because he was off balance while trying to catch it or he'd jump up and down joyfully whenever he successfully caught Conrad's throw. He'd yet to hear the child laugh so freely this past week, so the musical timbre of his glee yanked on Conrad's heartstrings and his promise to keep his king happy and smiling was only strengthened by this. And during the entire time they played; he didn't feel guilty at all for enjoying the child's company.

When they returned to his room that night; Conrad found that his usual glove and the rubber duck sat on his bed rather than on the bathroom floor where he'd forgotten them in his haste to save Yuuri from drowning. He returned them to the shelf, figuring Wolfram probably had them returned. With a sigh, he turned around to help Yuuri get into his pajamas only to find that the boy was fast asleep on his bed still fully clothed. It had been a busy day; Conrad sat down and took off Yuuri's shoes before tucking him in. Before he had a chance to really think about it, he kissed Yuuri's forehead tenderly and the boy mumbled something unintelligible in his sleep. Conrad could hardly keep his eyes off of him even as he readied himself for bed. If Yuuri was this darling without speaking, who knew what kind of power he'd hold over people when he actually did talk with that cute voice of his, if the sound of his laughter was any indication.

Conrad slipped into bed beside Yuuri, instead of on the covers as he'd been doing the past few nights, and the boy immediately gravitated to his side. He stroked Yuuri's hair gently and he whimpered softly in response. Conrad hummed quietly, testing the waters before softly beginning the lullaby he'd been singing for Yuuri for the past week. It was a song he'd heard on earth and Yuuri appeared familiar with it, so it added an air of familiarity and comfort to his sleep.

"Love me tender… love me sweet… never let me go…" Conrad's voice lulled Yuuri into an even deeper sleep and he unconsciously grabbed onto his arm and rubbed his cheek against it. "You have made my life complete… and I love you so. Love me tender… love me true… all my dreams fulfilled, for my darling I have you and I always will…"


End file.
